EDUCATION METHODS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 6, 6 December 1930, Page 8

EDUCATION METHODS

VIEWS OF MINISTER.

DEVELOPING the INTELLECT. The education policy and templated changes were dealt with bj Hon H Atmore, Minister of Education' when he delivered an address at the ’annual breaking-up ceremony o Si Palmerston North Technical School in the Opera House last evening “Away back many years ago in the Old Country education was most impractical ” stated Mr Atmore “It was given largely to the children of IL" JL>.ilthv and scholarships were few Boys’and girls went to obtain a little social polish and perhaps enlarge their capacities for enjoying the eood things of life. That tune lias IUI Education to-day must be how the philosophy of Aristotle was displaced by the verities of Galileo, Mr Atmore stated that with the latter came the advent ol the method of testing thought by observed consequences. The evolution of science had demanded the development of the practical side without which no education could be complete Technical classes, he said, were once looked upon as the cinderellas or poor relatives of the education family, but to-day the position had altered. Eor all phases ot lite technical education was useful, but for a large number it was indispensable if boys and gjris were_ to be fully equipped for the battle of life. NOTE OF WARNING.

“I want to sound a note of warning to the managers of schools which are still retaining the academic tradition,” said Mr Atmore, who added that they would have to change their policy. Those schools which still clung to the purely academic tuition were doomed. He was very pleaseu to see that there was a movement in Nelson to place the secondary schools under one controlling authority similar to the governing body at Palmerston North. All over New Zealand that step would have to be taken. There could be no divergence of interest and the growing sense of antagonism between secondary schools must be eliminated. The adults of to-daj would not be doing their auty unless every step was taken to equip their boys and girls for life,, which was daily becoming more complex. Ifiere was being spent annually on education in the Dominion over £3,/oO,UOO. There were great traditions of the past, but that would not enable them to live under present conditions. Scotland, which was formerly. preeminently a country of learning, was lagging behind England because it still retained its classical, academic system of education which had made it pre-eminent in the past, but did not meet modern requirements. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh had said that academic education was insufficient. England had recognised that unless she was to have still more unemployed she must change the educational policy. Instead of putting her first-class brains into unproductive labour and allowing her secondclass brains to meet world conditions, she was reversing the position. she was putting her liouse in order. To-day it was becoming increasingly evident that primary education itself was not sufficient and that it must proceed to the limit of the pupil’s capacity. There v T as no safety in. a world without developed intellect. There had been a good start made with the magnificent pnysical condition of the children, but that was not surprising considering that they were descended from hardy pioneer stock and were being brought up under congenial conditions. The tact, had emerged that the New Zealand boy or girl of 15 years of age was the tallest and best developed in the world. It was very pleasing to note that full recreational areas were being provided, for it . was now recognised that at essential part of education came from the playgrounds. The second phase of education was the development of intellect, and in that direction the old educationalists were not so far astray. To-day 98 per cent of the boys and girls going to school would eventually have to earn their own living. Because of that every effort should be made to develop their God-given faculties to the fullest extent. It was no empty platitude to say that there was no better investment a nation could make than the money spent on education, which must proceed along the lines of discovered aptitudes. it had been said that no two boys or girls had the same outlook on lite, yet attempts had been made to drive thefn all along the same avenue. It was obviously unfair to persist in measuring ability with the academic yardstick and to look askance at those who did not fulfil expectations. “We are going to disoover what each boy and girl can do under the proposals which we shall put into practice,”, added Mr Atmore, “and see that each receives that particular phase of education which gives the fullest development. THE GOLDEN AGE. Under modern scientific methods it was hoped to develop the mentality of the rising generation in such a manner as would make tire age a remarkable one. Writers often referret to the golden age of the past, but if reality it lay ahead. With the large expenditure in education every elf or; was being made to prepare boys anc girls for the highest duties of citizenship. Service should be expressed in high ideals. This was the most thrilling of all the ages, but the golden age was still ahead. That would come with the hdvent of the age of reason for which the rising generation was being educated. First mere must be the development of the body and its maintenance in a fit state, then the development of the mind, and finally the spirit of high ideals. There was nothing denied to well directed diligence. Sir Ernest Rutherford, the world's most eminent scientist, had been born in the back country in New Zealand, the late Sir Joseph Ward had risen from a telegraph messenger, the late Mr Massey from a ploughboy. and numerous other instances could be cited. THE HIGHEST IDEAL. Concluding, the Minister urged the importance of being imbued with high ideals. He stated that it was only low ideals which had precipitated tli< last catastrophic w.ar. Let the iia nig generation cherish high ideals an< play its part in moulding the work that it might reach up to a greatei destiny. There had been criticisnu of the education proposals of the Recess Committee, but wherever they had been fully explained they had received unanimous endorsement. Ho was satisfied that when the time came early i n the New Year to explain them to the school committees they would receive general support. Efforts to improve the system and give twenty shillings value for every P° u ? d expenditure on education would be appreciated. Finally the Minister stated that .^ ea * an d had once led the world tuth its humanitarian legislation when men ot the highest standard were m control of its affairs. [ It was possible b °y? T and girls of to-day to rrnnlj .Zealand in the vanguard of the nations and show an example to the world, }